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Tag: Manav Sethi

  • Selective, snackable, short episodes, niche mktg vital, says Manav Sethi as ALTBalaji ranks among top OTTs

    Selective, snackable, short episodes, niche mktg vital, says Manav Sethi as ALTBalaji ranks among top OTTs

    MUMBAI: The consumer who is on the move doesn’t consume long-form content. Snackable content is crucial. Every show is split into 10-12 episodes ranging between 20-30 minutes. Ninety per cent of the marketing spends is on digital. These are some of the critical insights Indiantelevision.com gleaned from an expert at ALTBalaji, which has ranked third among 34-odd India-based revenue-grossing video streaming apps, within six months of its existence.

    Online video (OTT) platform for original and exclusive shows ALTBalaji has been ranked amongst the Top 3 as per ‘State of  Video Streaming Apps in India’ report compiled by App Annie Intelligence — the ranking is a combination of iOS App Store and Google Play Store for H1 2017 period.

    The report focuses on the state of video streaming apps in Asia-Pacific region including emerging markets such as India, China and Thailand, among other. Since its launch in April, ALTBalaji has had more than 10 million mobile downloads with more than 1M+ web viewers. The ad-free, subscription-based platform is available in over 80+ countries, catering to the need of Indians and Indian diaspora spread across the globe. It is offering content in various Indian regional languages — Bengali, Tamil, Punjabi and Gujarati, etc.

    About the traction ALTBalaji gets, CMO Manav Sethi opened up with his geographical analysis: “Our Tamil show ‘Maya Thirrai’ not only garnered the southern audience but also has gathered traction from countries such as Singapore and the middle east because of the largest Tamil-speaking diaspora there.”

    He added: “Within 24 hours of announcement and trailer upload of our Bengali show ‘Dhimander Dinkaal,’ we observed spike from Dhaka (Bangladesh). From the regional standpoint, we are glued to the areas where internet bandwidth is available and the language-speaking diaspora has the acceptability of new-age content. This also helps in picking particular language and genre.”

    The video streaming app currently offers 10 active shows of various genres such as romance, mystery, drama, and comedy. ALTBalaji will soon launch more shows on the app.

    Sethi said, “In the last six months, we had 10 original shows which nobody including Amazon and Netflix had been able to launch in India. We are working on 50+ concept which are at various stages in our release pipeline. And, when a show goes live, it never goes on TV. By the exit of March 2018, we are committed to have 200-250 hours of original show content.”

    Sethi said, “Our content clarity and customer acquisition strategy worked for us to grow in such short time. We have never made content for the small universe, we have always endeavoured to create it for bigger universe. The shows that ALTBalaji put on the app are mainly in Hindi and other Indian languages. If we look at the top-rated GECs, news channels and circulated trends, English is a very miniscule component of consumption.” He further added with an example of YouTube that “YouTube claims to have 200 million unique monthly users consumption, wherein the part of English consumption is just 12 per cent.”

    One of the major reasons behind the growth of ALTBalaji is Ekta Kapoor, said Sethi, adding, “Ekta’s strength in identifying the stories and the narratives which have never been told in the past, and TV as a medium can’t handle it, holds a big part of our growth strategy. We did ‘Romil and Jugal’ where two boys fall in love with each other, ‘Dev DD’ where we have showcased a female as Devdas then ‘The Test Case’ with Nimrat Kaur which was about women in combat role, are some examples of stories never heard and told.”

    An interesting subject to know is whether ALTBalaji would now redesign their content strategy structure. Commenting on the strategy, Sethi said, “Our content strategy will remain the same. We will be creating more content in Hindi and in Indian languages. We have launched the Tamil and Bengali shows, and currently we are doing an epic show ‘Bose: Dead or Alive’ starring Rajkumar Rao which is releasing soon.

    Sethi added: “We are working on a new show ‘Mangalyaan’ which will revolve around three women, and will talk about various aspects of the Mars Orbiter Mission at ISRO. We have announced a Gujarati and Punjabi show each as well. We have already released an original comedy series ‘Pammi Aunty’ with Ssumier S Pasricha. From today (4 October), people will see stand-up comedy in four languages including Marathi and Tamil.”

    According to Sethi, the consumer was always on a move and did not consume long-form content on mobiles. “So, from a marketing standpoint, we have created snackable content which is easily downloadable across thin bandwidth,” he said. He further describes that their every show was split into 10-12 episodes which ranges between 20-30 minutes each.

    About the growth, Sethi said, “We were cautious in our advertising and marketing spends. Ninety per cent of our spends is focused on digital. Also, when we launched ALT as an OTT platform in April 2017, we did four weeks’ campaign on TV, which resulted in creating the awareness and launching it as a brand. But, since then, we are largely focusing on digital.”

    Also Read:

    Rajeev & Surveen’s digital debut on ALTBalaji’s Haq Se

    ALT Balaji announces Dhimaner Dinkaal – its  first Bengali original

    ALTBalaji is essentially everything that Balaji on TV is not: Sameer Nair

    ALTBalaji welcomes Pammi Aunty & family

  • ‘Karrle Tu Bhi Mohabbat’, ‘Test Case’, ‘Once Upon A Night’, ‘Boygiri’ & ‘Maya Thirai’ etc to be on ALTBalaji

    MUMBAI: After making a mark in television and films, Balaji Telefilms Limited is all set to launch its OTT platform ALT Balaji. The company has forayed into the digital entertainment space with ALTBalaji that aims to reach out directly to Indian audiences by providing them with original, exclusive and premium content that they can access at their fingertips.

    The shows will be streaming on the ALTBalaji app from the 16 April, 2017.

    The shows that will be available on ALT include the much-awaited Karrle Tu Bhi Mohabbat featuring Ram Kapoor and Sakshi Tanwar, Nimrat Kaur-Juhi Chawla starrer The Test Case, Once Upon A Night, DEV DD, Romil and Jugal, Boygiri and regional show Maya Thirai (Tamil) among several others.

    ALTBalaji CMO Manav Sethi said, “ALTBalaji’s vision is to acquire leadership position in digital entertainment space in India and globally. We are launching ALTBalaji platform formally in April 2017 with original shows at the time of launch in Hindi and other Indian languages. This hasn’t been done before by any other OTT platform thus far. This content is created and curated by Ekta Kapoor diligently for Indian masses. It’s no secret that we Indians have humongous appetite for non-English entertainment content and mobile as a personal device has acquired that platform advantage to view content, location and time that is personal to every 200Mn smartphone owner. This huge potential is what motivates us and we would strive to create such mass appeal shows. Our brand are our shows and we would do everything to learn and invest in creating best consumer experiences.”

  • Alt Balaji ropes in Manav Sethi as CMO

    Alt Balaji ropes in Manav Sethi as CMO

    MUMBAI: As Balaji Telefilms’ Alt Digital gears up for its launch in 2017, it has roped in marketing veteran Manav Sethi as its chief marketing officer. Sethi will oversee the company’s entire communications strategy in India and will also look after its international expansion.

    Balaji Telefilms group CEO Sameer Nair said, “Manav is ideally suited to support the vision we’re working towards at ALT Balaji. We are looking forward to harnessing his experience and expertise as we launch, grow and expand our footing. Manav’s role will cover a wide array of activities including Marketing and Communications, and we look forward to his leadership in shaping our journey.”

    With over 15 years of experience nationally and globally in marketing, product, sales, strategic alliances in digital businesses, Sethi brings with him an innate understanding of the market. His expansive experience includes holding key positions at Getit Infoservices and Reliance Big Entertainment.

    “We are delighted to add such an experienced resource to the ALT Balaji family. Manav not only comes with a vast experience in the field but also will add a new layer and dynamism to the team, we think. I’m sure he will only complement to our venture of creating a solid and valuable brand”, added Alt Balaji CEO Nachiket Pantvaidya.

    In his last role at Getit he launched multiple businesses and brands in India and Malaysia across Yellowpages, Horizontal Marketplace and verticals like Grocery and Furniture, Mobile Wallet and Merchant Lending platform. At Reliance Big Entertainment, he launched India’s then largest local search business BigMaps and managed corporate strategy across the group that launched businesses across FM Radio, Music, Motion Pictures, Movie rental & download, online gaming and a JV with Dreamworks Animation SKG.

    Sethi asserted, “It’s an exciting time in the digital space and to be a part of a company since its launch always adds to the excitement. I’m looking forward to playing a part in this journey towards making Alt Balaji one of India’s leading brands”

  • Alt Balaji ropes in Manav Sethi as CMO

    Alt Balaji ropes in Manav Sethi as CMO

    MUMBAI: As Balaji Telefilms’ Alt Digital gears up for its launch in 2017, it has roped in marketing veteran Manav Sethi as its chief marketing officer. Sethi will oversee the company’s entire communications strategy in India and will also look after its international expansion.

    Balaji Telefilms group CEO Sameer Nair said, “Manav is ideally suited to support the vision we’re working towards at ALT Balaji. We are looking forward to harnessing his experience and expertise as we launch, grow and expand our footing. Manav’s role will cover a wide array of activities including Marketing and Communications, and we look forward to his leadership in shaping our journey.”

    With over 15 years of experience nationally and globally in marketing, product, sales, strategic alliances in digital businesses, Sethi brings with him an innate understanding of the market. His expansive experience includes holding key positions at Getit Infoservices and Reliance Big Entertainment.

    “We are delighted to add such an experienced resource to the ALT Balaji family. Manav not only comes with a vast experience in the field but also will add a new layer and dynamism to the team, we think. I’m sure he will only complement to our venture of creating a solid and valuable brand”, added Alt Balaji CEO Nachiket Pantvaidya.

    In his last role at Getit he launched multiple businesses and brands in India and Malaysia across Yellowpages, Horizontal Marketplace and verticals like Grocery and Furniture, Mobile Wallet and Merchant Lending platform. At Reliance Big Entertainment, he launched India’s then largest local search business BigMaps and managed corporate strategy across the group that launched businesses across FM Radio, Music, Motion Pictures, Movie rental & download, online gaming and a JV with Dreamworks Animation SKG.

    Sethi asserted, “It’s an exciting time in the digital space and to be a part of a company since its launch always adds to the excitement. I’m looking forward to playing a part in this journey towards making Alt Balaji one of India’s leading brands”

  • 9XM to launch crowd sourced music AFP with Askme

    9XM to launch crowd sourced music AFP with Askme

    MUMBAI: Getting innovative with advertiser funded programming (AFP), music channel 9XM has partnered exclusively with Askme.com to present a one-of-a-kind crowd sourced music show on Indian television. Titled #Asktrack, this advertiser funded show will curate its play list for each episode from audiences’ request on a variety of social media platforms like Twitter, Facebook and Whatsapp.

     

    “Normally in a channel, it’s the programming team that decide what songs to play. But through this new show we are asking our audience to tell us what to air for them. In this endeavour we are happy to have Askme.com on board as our partners for#AskTrack and are confident that this viewer’s request show will resonate with the music lovers across India,” explains 9X Media chief revenue officer Pawan Jailkhani.

     

    9XM viewers can select their favourite songs from the shortlisted songs presented across 9XM social media platforms. The songs, which garner the maximum number of votes will be used in the playlist for the 90 minutes break less music band.

     

    Known for its innovative brand collaborations, the channel is banking on Askme.com’s brand concept to bring light to their new show through this partnership with the website.

     

    “Askme.com as client has a similar target audience as what as a channel and broadcaster 9XM delivers to. The eyeballs we want to grab are also whom Askme.com wants to reach out to. Both Askme.com and the show share a similar brand identity. Therefore it also makes sense for them to ride on our target audience to deliver their brand message,” Jailkhani shares, adding that the show, which took six months to bring into place, was conceptualised keeping Askme.com’s crowdsourcing model in mind.

     

    Pointing out that the whole concept is more of a trail for the channel, 9XM is not looking to heavily monetise it yet. For the AFP, 9XM will have Askme.com as the exclusive partner and is not looking to monetise the show with other brands. “This is more like an experiment for us to bring such a concept to Indian television for the first time. Askme.com as a brand finds it immensely synergised with their brand communication and hence they are onboard with us. It’s a larger commercial deal, which involves sponsoring and other things that we are doing for the show,” Jailkhani says.

     

    When it comes to marketing, the channel is going digital heavy as that is where their target audience is. “Apart from promoting the show across our networks electronically, we are focusing greatly on social media. Therefore a majority of our marketing spends are going into the digital campaign,” Jailkhani shares.

     

    Speaking about the association, Askme.com head digital strategy and CMO Manav Sethi said, “We are excited to partner with 9XM to launch #AskTrack, a unique concept, which will allow customers to request songs through social media. With this initiative we are continuing with our objective of offering another unique service to our consumers who are inclined towards music. We are confident that this partnership will be beneficial for both – 9XM and Askme.”

     

    The new show that goes on air on 21 December will be aired from Monday to Friday at 5:30 pm.

     

    Viewers can click on the FB/Twitter link to vote for their favourite songs; the playlist will also be shared on www.9xm.in/asktrack to enable seamless voting experience for the viewers.

  • GroupM & Google’s Grand Diwali Mela gets AskMe Bazaar as title sponsor

    GroupM & Google’s Grand Diwali Mela gets AskMe Bazaar as title sponsor

    MUMBAI: Making the online Diwali festival initiative bigger and better this year, GroupM with along with Google has roped in AskMeBazaar.com as its new title sponsor.

     

    Brands that renewed their partnership with the Grand Diwali Mela this year are Lakme, Horlicks, Kurkure and Hungama.com, whereas Eno and Godrej Securities have come on board as the new partners.

     

    Last year, the Grand Diwali Mela received over 5.5 million visitors in a course of 30 days. Over 125,000 hours were spent browsing various online stalls in the mela. These stalls included products, food items, pooja needs, gaming and entertainment. The Grand Diwali Mela emerged as the largest online sampling platform for brands wherein over 150,000 samples were shipped across India, with 70 per cent sample orders going to Tier 2 and Tier 3 towns. The samples ranged from make-up, skincare and household products.

     

    Askmebazaar.com will be offering a host of deals at the Grand Diwali Mela with discounts on home appliances, mobile phones, fashion apparels, home décor and personal care products.

     

    For the spiritually inclined, this year the ‘Grand Diwali Mela’ has the option of offering prayers and receiving ‘prasad’ from a number of temples across India. As Diwali is also about greeting loved ones, the Grand Diwali Mela will also offer the facility to send online festive greetings showing your ‘namkeen’ side with fun greeting cards from Kurkure.

     

    Talking about the sponsorship, Askmebazaar digital strategy group CMO and head Manav Sethi said, “We are excited to be the presenting sponsor of Grand Diwali Mela 2015. One of its kind virtual mela; one stop destination for entertainment, best deals and best brands in the biggest festive season of India. A truly immersive experience in one destination for consumers. This year look forward to the BIG deals everyday delivered at your doorstep. From furniture to fashion, AskmeBazaar has curated the best deals to ensure every home lights up this Diwali. Askme Group looks forward to India joining us on the GDM, 2015; the biggest mela of the year!”

     

    On the second season of the Grand Diwali Mela, GroupM South Asia CEO CVL Srinivas said, “After the success of the Grand Diwali Mela in year one, we are excited to bring the online festival back again this year. We have a new naming partner on board AskMe.com as well and a range of new brands and products for consumers to choose from.”

     

    Speaking about the reach of the festival, Srinivas added, “With GDM, we were able to create a great platform for consumers to come and sample products and interact with brands. Last year we saw a clear spike in terms of mobile usage to access the Grand Diwali Mela. With a clear focus on taking the festival to not just metros, but also tier 2 and 3 towns, where the mobile phone is their window to the world, GroupM and our partners are integrating traditional print, TV and radio with mobile and digital marketing.”

     

    “Grand Diwali Mela organised by GroupM emerged as India’s largest online brand activation initiative during the festival season last year and surpassed any offline brand activation initiative in the country. As more and more consumer products companies embrace the Internet to drive sampling and consumer engagement, we’re delighted to partner Group M to scale this initiative further and help brands make the most of the opportunity online,” asserted Google SEA & India director agency business Punitha Arumugam.

     

    Hungama.com, has come back on board as one of the partners of the ‘Grand Diwali Mela’. Last year Hungamam.com gave users access to films from its  Indian and International movies catalogue. Users could also create a Grand Diwali Mela playlist of popular Bollywood numbers. This year, Hungama.com brings on board ‘Hungama Play’ – its premium video on demand (VOD) service via the Grand Diwali Mela 2015.

     

    Besides this, the Grand Diwali Mela is also running contests with prizes to be won.

  • Askme to roll out hyper-local online grocery across 27 Indian cities

    Askme to roll out hyper-local online grocery across 27 Indian cities

    MUMBAI: Online SMB marketplace Askme is planning to launch its online grocery platform top 27 cities in India in the next four to six months. The company has kick-started this initiative with Delhi NCR.

     

    With a promise that grocery is available below MRP and delivered at the doorstep, the team has brought together offline merchants to list their SKUs online.

     

    Askme group CMO & head digital strategy Manav Sethi said, “Every feature, platform and strategic relationship that Askme enters into is driven by singular motivation of adding business value to offline merchants by leveraging online platforms. The platform Bestatlowest.com is a hyper-local model that enables offline grocery retailers in neighbourhoods to come online for incremental magnetisation and building consumer loyalty. Leveraging hyperlocal model of sourcing and zero costs on inventory or warehousing brings significant advantage of pricing and portfolio. This model is also extremely flexible and rapidly scalable in adding more merchants and SKU categories as demand grows both nationally and locally. Delhi NCR now boasts of 30 hyper-local hubs with 25000+ SKUs. Askme intends to leverage its brand and infrastructure to cross sell and upsell grocery online to all its existing and potential consumers.”

     

    India is the sixth largest grocery market in the world and retail consultancy Technopak estimates that online grocery market is growing at the rate of 25-30 per cent annually in major cities of India. According to Research firm IGD predictions, India’s online grocery market, which is estimated to be less than $100 million at present, is expected to cross $25 billion by 2020 and by 2016, the Indian grocery market would overtake Japan to become the third largest market worldwide.

     

    Teams lead by Ankit Jain and Amit Nigam, founders of Bestatlowest.com, scaled this business to Delhi NCR within 60 days of working with the Askme team.

     

    Jain said, “Offline merchants were brought on board to list their SKUs and Askme team works with these merchants very closely whenever an order is executed. Functional teams and Askme brand gave us that huge fillip in covering this journey in 60 days which otherwise would have taken many more months.”

  • Maxus ESP & Chef Vikas Khanna join hands for Askme’s video series

    Maxus ESP & Chef Vikas Khanna join hands for Askme’s video series

    MUMBAI: Maxus ESP has partnered with Chef Vikas Khanna to co-create and design Askme’s video series called ‘Top Trending places for Top Trending moments.’

     

    Maxus ESP identified and finalised various moments that matter to consumers via research. These moments were then incorporated in concepts for the video series.

     

    Explaining the content of the video, Maxus Asia Pacific, South East Asia and South Asia Regional director for content Shailja Saraswati said, “We have curated the videos to suit the contemporary taste of the audience and have ensured that every moment of the viewing becomes an experience to cherish. The videos are custom made for digital audiences always on the lookout for suggestions and will be promoted across digital/app/mobile.”

     

    According to Saraswati, Askme.com has evolved from being just an information realisation service to a curator of the latest trends and satiates the consumer’s need of staying in tune with fast changing content preferences.

     

    Askme.com group head marketing Manav Sethi said, “We are delighted to be a part of this one-of-a kind initiative by Maxus ESP in collaboration with Vikas Khanna. At Askme.com, we have fine-tuned our strategy to offer content that is credible and crisp and this new series of videos is all about celebrating life packed with fun moments and experiences. Askme believes life is all about celebrations and who better than Vikas Khanna, to help consumers out with the right choice for moments that matter.”

     

    The video series was custom created for seeding across digital platforms, including social media assets of AskMe.

  • Askme & Askmebazaar roll out new TVCs with Ranbir Kapoor & Farhan Akhtar

    Askme & Askmebazaar roll out new TVCs with Ranbir Kapoor & Farhan Akhtar

    MUMBAI: Internet platform Askme.com and its online marketplace Askmebazaar.com have launched two comprehensive campaigns. 

     

    While Ranbir Kapoor will be seen in the Askme commercials, Farhan Akhtar has been roped in as the new face for Askmebazaar. Both these campaigns aim to bring together Askme’s single proposition of ‘One stop destination’.

     

    Askme’s campaign, ‘Baap of all trends’ is in line with brand ethos of being ahead of the curve. Through this campaign, the company aims to position itself as the one stop destination that caters to diverse needs of a customer.

     

    In a move to connect with today’s youth, the campaign aims to fill the gap between a plethora of options available in the online space but lack of one credible source for the same. 

     

    Further, with the launch of the campaign by Askmebazaar.com, the company introduces a novel concept of online retail therapy. ‘One Click Therapy’ as the name suggests acts as the driving force for customers to lead a stress free life. Online marketplace in Askmebazaar is positioned as stress buster via retail therapy as it offers next day delivery on top brand with best deals.

     

    Conceptualized by JWT, both the campaigns use a comprehensive multimedia approach, compelling facts and vivid imagery designed to change consumers buying behavior.

     

    Askme group CMO Manav Sethi said, “Both these campaigns are built on consumer insights. Search has moved from discovery to aggregated opinions and hence Askme assumes that leadership position across India to communicate best places to eat, wear, and relax etc. The option to transact these products and be in the trend is made available by Askmebazaar where majority find platforms such as these an option full of choices, brands and best prices and hence ‘stress mein don’t go bizarre; shop on askmebazaar.’”

     

    J Walter Thompson senior vice president & executive business director Saurabh Saksena added, “Over the past few years the consumers are turning to the internet to see what choices they have to make, whether for eating-out, travel destinations, fashion, gadgets, plays, etc. While there are many destinations that offers them choice, few offer them advise. The poor consumer is left asking people who they know (and who may not be experts) for their advise about where to eat, where to travel to, which movie to watch, what to wear and what gadget to buy, etc.”

     

    “And these ‘advisors’ may not be the best people to ask. This forms the basis for our campaign, we have had most fun coming up with. ‘Don’t ask just about anyone, ask the Baap of all trends, askme.com’. Askme.com offers to satisfy this need to get advise/ recommendations from a credible source, through curated experiences,” he added. 

  • Askme Bazaar ropes in Farhan Akhtar as brand ambassador

    Askme Bazaar ropes in Farhan Akhtar as brand ambassador

    MUMBAI: India’s consumer internet company Askme has roped in Bollywood star Farhan Akhtar as brand ambassador for its online marketplace Askmebazaar.com.

    As per the terms of the contract, Akhtar will endorse the company’s products and services through advertising campaigns.

    As the brand ambassador, Akhtar will be featured in a new integrated 360-degree campaign for Askmebazaar.com, which will run across TV, print and online channels from August 2015.

    Askme Group CMO Manav Sethi said, “We are delighted to have multi-talented Farhan Akhtar on board as this association will help build a strong connect between the brand and consumers. Farhan Akhtar who wears different caps of a singer, lyricist, actor and director, truly exemplifies our brand philosophy which is defined by simplicity, great design and ease of use with contemporary Indian features.”

    Akhtar added, “It’s a great feeling to be associated with Askme as the brand resonates fashion, style, and attitude and guarantees every purchase with its unique trust seal.”